


Daughter of Iron

by Redonkgirl



Series: Fate Will Find A Way. [10]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 20:28:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8637001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redonkgirl/pseuds/Redonkgirl
Summary: Maria's first interview.





	

**THE FIRST PERSON I MEET** isn’t the young woman I’m to interview; it’s Pepper Potts. Tony Stark’s fearsome PA is standing by the entrance to the café that I was told my interviewee herself chose; the famed Potts levels me with a polite but intimidating look. She greets me before getting right down to business.             

“Miss Stark’s sitting outside; you’re welcome to ask whatever you like, but she might chose not to answer. It’s all up to her.”                

Anyone who heard Potts’s words would have immediately picked up on the protectiveness in the statement; it’s been made abundantly clear that Potts doesn’t just look at her like her boss’s daughter.              

After I agree to these terms, Potts leads me back through the café and holds open the door for me; Potts nods at me one more time and then shuts the door behind me.            

There’s something surreal about seeing the daughter of one of the richest men on the planet and easily the most well-known person on the Earth today. She looks up at me and smiles politely before standing and holding her hand out.                

“Maria Stark.”                 

She has a firm grip and maintains eye contact throughout it; her handshake could put a CEO to shame. She then sits back down and waits until I’m situated before speaking.     

“I hope you don’t mind that I ordered.”                

I tell her that I don’t mind before asking if she’d been waiting long.                 

“Not really; I just haven’t eaten today. Nerves, you know.”              

This surprises me; it’s already one o’clock and even with my own nerves, I ate a small breakfast.                   

I ask if she’s really that nervous and she answers with a nod before taking a sip of her water; the moment it takes her to do that is a moment I take to study her.  This is the first time I’d ever seen her in person and it’s quite startling; pictures can capture her looks, but they can’t do her justice. Her brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail that’s long enough to reach in between her shoulder blades and eyes with a color to match are focused on the small flower centerpiece at the table.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was one of those people that occasionally questioned Maria’s parentage, and a few of her features were probably given to her from her mother (her lips are an obvious one), but there is something about her that is so undeniably Stark. People say that when you’re around Tony Stark, that there are two very distinguishable parts of him: the cocky, playboy surface and the true man underneath. Being with Maria is like skipping the defenses and getting directly to the woman inside.   

“So, you just ask me questions…?”                 

I take that as a go ahead and I look at the top of the list of questions I’d prepared before starting off by asking what it’s like to be the daughter of someone so well-known.       

Maria laughs slightly and looks away from me for a moment as she seems to try to figure out a good answer for a question that I freely admit isn’t that good.            

“I don’t really know; this has always been my life, you know?” She sits back in her chair “He’s never been the billionaire Tony Stark to me; not even when he’s in the suit does he turn into anything other than my dad.”                 

I ask her about that; how she feels about Iron Man and the Avengers.

“I think they’re necessary; the world has changed so much in such a short amount of time, I mean, five years ago, believing in aliens was a joke. Now we have one protecting us from _other_ aliens. If it weren’t for the Avengers, Loki would’ve at the very least taken out a good amount of us, maybe even achieved his goal.”             

I point out that it is a very dangerous job and question if she worries for her father’s safety, which makes her laugh slightly.                

“Of course I worry, but I also know that this is something he believes is his duty."          

I ask her about what she thinks of the people who say that the Avengers are a part of the problem; that people deserve for the Avengers to answer for what they’ve done.         

She thinks about it for a moment; once again, she seems more stuck on how to say what she thinks than anything else.                

“I’m not trying to say this like I’m speaking for every person that’s ever been hurt by things the Avengers have been involved in; I know I’m extremely privileged and don’t have to worry about where I’ll sleep and how I’ll pay for things. But… I’ve been caught in the crosshairs and it ended badly. Nearly died. And, I personally don’t attach the blame to the Avengers; it’s impossible for them to be everywhere at once.”               

At this point, the waitress approaches us and gives Maria her plate; a turkey club with a side of french fries.  I can’t help but notice how Maria smiles and thanks the waitress graciously.                 

“You don’t mind if I…?” She trails off and waits for me to give her the okay.                

I tell her that it’s completely fine and give her a few minutes to dig into her food before asking my next question; what she thinks of the other Avengers.               

“They’re cool,” she says in the way one speaks about people they’re pretty familiar with “I hang out with them when they’re at the Tower and aren’t busy. They’re honestly just your average cool people when they’re not fighting aliens or whatever.” She then looked up at me with a playful expression “I mean, average cool people don’t look like _that,_ but close enough.”               

I must have made a face, because she rolls her eyes in a good-natured manner before speaking without being verbally prompted.               

“I have soulmates; I’m not blind.”                

Now I know I made a face; I had not expected her to bring that up without me sidling up to it. I had almost thought she wouldn’t want to talk about it, but since she seemed perfectly willing, I ask.                

“What do you want to know?” She’s affable about it.               

I ask what it’s like to have soulmates; to know that there are people out there made for her.               

“It feels…” she trails off and thinks about it for a moment “Imagine being on a boat headed towards land, only you can’t tell how far away it is; all you can see is a lighthouse. You spend years trying to get to the land, knowing that when you do, you’ll be happy beyond belief; you might get discouraged sometimes and people might make fun of you for even trying to get to the land in the first place, but no matter what, you always have that lighthouse… That’s what it’s like.”                   

I have to admit that I fell silent for a minute; I had no idea what to say. She seemed to understand and gave me an out by returning to her food for a moment and letting me collect myself.                

Once the moment had passed, I asked her what she believed her soulmates would be like, and she gave a little shrug while a small smile began to appear.                

“I’m not sure… I know I’ll love them, though; I love them now.”                     

I ask her if she thinks they love her and her smile grows while her eyes drop to her plate.                

“Yeah… They… Yeah.”

I ask her what gender she thinks they’ll be and then immediately add that she doesn’t have to answer the question if she doesn’t feel comfortable.

“No, it’s fine.” And she seems to mean it “If it’s going off of my sexuality, then they’re one man and one woman. But, I’ll be happy no matter what the combination.”        

I ask her if she could confirm her sexuality for clarity’s sake, which she does without a qualm.

“I’m bisexual.”     

This new information opens up a whole new world of questions for me, and I ask how she feels her sexuality has impacted her life.

“Well, I feel like it would’ve been more if I didn’t have soulmates, but that tends to overshadow everything. The people around me don’t have a problem with it and anyone who does probably didn’t like my soulmarks in the first place, so it doesn’t really change much.”

Of course, I have to ask her about the people around her; the people that _a_ _ren’t_ Avengers.

“I really only have one real friend that isn’t tied up in all of this; my best friend Jade. We met when we were ten.”

I ask her if she is referring to Jade Moore; the daughter of the prominent real estate tycoon, Alexander Moore.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know that when I met her; she was just the other girl in the principal’s office.”

My eyebrows raise at that; the girl I’ve been speaking to this entire time did not seem the type to be sent the principal’s office.                             

“Oh, I, um, punched someone,” she says when I ask, shifting awkwardly “He was bullying me about, um, Theresa. So, I punched him.” 

I feel the urge to pull back then; the disappearance of her older sister seems like a taboo topic. But, Potts told me nothing was off-limits, so I ask her about it.

“I really don’t know if there’s anything else to say about it, you know?”

I point out she was very young when the entire thing happened and question how it affected her childhood and her relationship with her family.

“It didn’t happen when I was nine; it started when I was nine and it’s still happening.” 

I go quiet for a moment and just consider the young woman sitting in front of me

By all accounts, she has grown up in an incredibly privileged life. Yet, she has gone through so many things in such a short span of time. The woman that sits across from me lost her sister at the age of nine, was stabbed and nearly lost her life at the age of fourteen, and has been the target of ridicule her entire life. But, the woman before me isn't cruel or even spoiled like one would expect. She has an inner strength that cannot be attributed to her father; a strength that is entirely her own.                

"Is there anything you'd like to tell the world?"                

“Yeah; you just can't seem to get rid of me, huh?”

**Author's Note:**

> Faceclaim for Maria: Sophie Cookson


End file.
